Sosyoloji ve Anomi: Toplumsal İntihar The Sociological Context Of The Meaning Of Earthquake In Traumatic Chaos Occasion

An earthquake is not only a physical nature event but also a sociological phenomenon as it directly affects human and societies’ lives. An individual, in the traumatic chaos occasion created by an earthquake, needs to make sense of what happened. In terms of questioning himself, his life and society, he perceives the earthquake as a poetic justice of punishment from God due to the sins committed by individuals. This explanation does not make any sense in terms of positivist paradigm. However, it makes sense in hermeneutics (interpretative) paradigm. Interpretative paradigm focuses on how the people make sense and build their own social realities. The theological and metaphysical explanation of the earthquake is also important. In this paper, the social-psychological and sociological dimensions of explaining earthquake are analysed.